Reenforced pavement



Nov. 20, 1934. A. a wlLsoN 1,981,489

REENFORCED PAVEMENT Filed Aug. 2, 1929 6 Sheets-Sheet l ii'iiiiii @IIIIII 22 :EIIIIII NOV. 20, 1934. A, WlLsQN 1,981,489

REENFORCED PAVEMENT Filed Aug. 2, 1929 6 Sheets-Sheet 2 a! J5\5 2%! 127%? $49.6 52 J5 2 1g J6 6 J6 5 16.4 .76 v

Filed Aug. 2 1929 6 Sheets-Sheet 3 NKN whW

Nov. 20, 1934. A. B. WILSON REENFORCED PAVEMENT Filed Aug. 2, 1929 GSheets-Sheet 4 E11 27% 7 wen/l5. 755 6077 Q QN Nov. 20, 1934. w o 1,981,489

REENFORCED PAVEMENT e 165 J6 mm Nov. 20, 1934. v A. B. WILSON 1,981,489

REENFORCED PAVEMENT Filed Aug. 2, 1929 6 Sheets-Sheet 6 .45 JdQJY/B. 7715071 491 Patented Nov. 20, 1934 UNITED STATES REENFORC'ED PAVEMENT Allen B. Wilson, Chicago, Ill, assignor to Acme Steel Company, Chicago, 111., a. corporation of Illinois Application August 2, 1929, Serial No. 382,889

4 Claims.

This invention relates to pavements and its purpose is to provide an improved pavement and an improved method of laying a pavement whereby the surface thereof is reenforced by metallic 5 means to increase its wearing qualities. The principal object of the invention is to provide an improved. method of laying pavements according to which continuous lengths of metallic reenforcing material are laid in the pavement substantially flush with the surface thereof so that the pavement has an increased resistance to the wear caused. by the movement of vehicle or pedestrian traffic thereover. The improved method of the present invention may be employed in the laying of street pavements, roadways, sidewalks or the floors or runways of shops, docks, railway stations or other buildings where it is desirable to provide an increased resistance to the wear caused by heavy trafic.

Efforts have heretofore been made to reenforce pavements for the purpose of increasing their wearing qualities but these efforts have not met with success because the reenforcing materials used have ordinarily been provided in small lengths or strips or in relatively large rigid sheets which could not readily be laid in place or caused to retain their proper positions until they were secured by the setting or hardening of the concrete or other paving material in which they were partially or wholly embedded. A further difficulty has arisen from the fact that previous efforts to reenforce pavements have not provided a uniform reenforcement over substantially the entire area of the pavement so that some portions thereof have worn off more quickly than others, leaving a rough and uneven surface. Where reenforcing metal sheets have heretofore been employed, they have been rigid and inflexible so that they could not readily be applied to the surface to be reenfcrced and no satisfactory means have been provided for uniting adjacent reenforcing members.

These difficulties are overcome in the present invention by the provision of an improved pavemerit and an improved method of laying pavements according to which the metallic reenforcing material is supplied in continuous flexible lengths which may conveniently placed on the base of the pavement in readiness to receive the plastic surface paving material which is filled into the pores or spaces of the metallic reenforcement substantially to the level of the top surface thereof. A further feature of the improved method of the present invention is the use of flexible metallic reenforcing material which is supplied in rolls capable of being unrolled on the base of the pavement until the desired length is in position, whereupon this length of material is severed from the supply roll and then embedded in the surface pav ing material, so that the pavement is reenforced at the surface by a continuous length of metallic material having all parts thereof interconnected.

A further advantage of the present invention is that when one roll of the reenforcing material has been used, the end of another roll may be readily connected to the last length of the first roll to permit the formation of a section of the desired length. i v

The principal object of the invention is to provide a metallic reenforcing mat for pavements comprising a plurality of pivotally connected metallic members adapted to be partially or wholly embedded in the concrete or other material forming the pavement to form a continuous reenforcement extending throughout the desired area. A further object of the invention is to provide'a metallic reenforcing mat, made up of a. plurality of metal strips bent into zigzag formation and intermeshing with each. other, the metal strips forming the mat being presented edgewise to the surface being reenforced. A further object of the invention is to provide a metallic reenforcement adapted to present metallic surfaces in substantially uniform relation throughout the area of the pavement flush with the surface of the paving material, thus retarding and rendering more uniform the wear on the pavement surface as compared with the action of reenforced pavements heretofore known in which separate irregularly distributed metallic reenforcements have been employed, Afurther feature of the present invention is the provision ofa flexible metallic reenforcing material which is'capable of being supplied in rolls and which may be un-, rolled on the base of the pavement until thedesired length thereof is in position, after which this section of reenforcing material may be separated from the supply roll byremoving' one of the'pivot pins by which the separate units of the material are connected. Other objects relate to various features and advantages of the improved method which will appear more fully hereinafter.

The nature of the invention will be understood from the following specification taken with the accompanying drawings, in connection with which one example of the improved method of paving and certain embodiments of the improved pavement and of reenforcing means therefor are'described. In the accompanying drawings,

units of the metallic reenforcing mat shown in Figs. 1 and 2, together with one of the pivot pins or rods detached therefrom and one of the rods employed at the edge of the mat for uniting it with an adjacent mat section on the base of the pavement;

Fig. 4 shows a detail section taken on the 44 of Fig. 2; 1

Fig. 5 shows a top plan view of portions of two adjacent sections of the flexible reenforcing mat united along their longitudinal edges by means of the pins which are slidably mounted in one edge portion of each mat section for engagement with apertures in an adjacent mat section when they have been laid in position on the base of the pavement;

Fig. 6 is a detail section taken on the line 66 of Fig. 5, showing one of the connecting pins engaging portions of the metal strips which form the mat units of adjacent mat sections;

Fig. '7 shows a top plan view of a portion of a pavement having a part of the base of the pavement covered by the mat sections employed with the present invention and showing a roll of the fiexiblereenforcing mat partially unrolled on the base of the pavement Fig. 8 shows a sectional view on the line 88 of Fig. 7, illustrating in elevation the roll of metallic reenforcing material;

Fig. 9 shows a top plan view of the completed line ' pavement constructed according to the method of the present invention, illustrating the meshes or pores of the metallic reenforcing material filled with the concrete or other material which forms the surface pavement, with the edges of the strips which form the reenforcing material exposed at the surface of the pavement;

Fig. 10 shows a transverse section taken on the 7 line 1010 of Fig. 9;

Fig. 11 shows a sectional View through a modified form of paving base formed of wood, showing the metallic reenforcing material laid thereon and secured thereto by means of staples;

Fig. 12 shows a partial top plan view of a portion of the reenforcing mat illustrated in Fig. '2 which has been modified around its lateral edges for use in locations where the reinforcement does not extend over the entire area of the pavement; I

Fig. 13 is a top plan'view of a portion of a modiiied form of unit employed in making up themetallic reenforcing mat, showing the relation of this modifiedform to the form shown in Figs. 1 to 10, inclusive, which is here illustrated by dotted lines;

Fig. 14 is a partial top plan view of a portion of a metallic reenforcing mat made up of the modified form of sheetmetal unit shown in Fig.-

the'principles of the present invention;

Fig. 16 shows a top plan view of a portion of still another form of metallic reenforcing mat constructed according to the present invention; Fig. 1'7 shows a partial top plan view of still another form of metallic reenforcing mat, and

Fig. 18 shows a partial top plan view of still another modified form of the reenforcing mat.

In the practice of the present invention, the street or roadway or other area to be paved is first provided with a paving base which may preferably be formed of concrete or'the like having a substantially fiat or slightly curved upper surface, depending upon the location and intended use of the pavement. In some cases the paving base may be formed of wooden flooring, wooden blocks or other material. There is then placed upon this paving base a layer of metallic reenforcing material in the form of a flexible metallic mat formed preferably of a plurality of interconnected metallic units each made up of a metal strip or ribbon which is embodied in the mat so that it rests edgewise on the paving base and is presented edgewise to the surface of the completed pavement. When this metallic reenforcing material has been laid in position, the surface paving material, such as concrete, asphalt or the like, is applied to the paving area to fill the spaces of the flexible reenforcing matting with the result that when this surface paving material subsequently hardens, the metallic reenforcing strips appear at the surface flushwith the concrete, asphalt or the like, to present a continuous network of metallic material over the area of the pavement which has high wear resisting qualities adapted to increase greatly the life of the pavement thus reenforced. Before proceeding to a detailed description of the method of laying the pavement, the structure of the preferred form of the metallic reenforcing material of the present invention will be described.

Referring particularly to Figs. 1, 2 and 3, the flexible reenforcing mat 15 is shown as being made up of a plurality of individual transversely extending units 16. Each unit 16 is formed of a sheet metal strip or ribbon which is bent back and forth upon itself in zigzag fashion to form a series of reversely arranged U-shaped convolutions 16 each comprising side walls 16 and a connecting end wall 16; Aswill be apparent from the drawings, the side walls 16 of one U-shaped convolution also form two side walls of two adjacent reversely directed U-shaped convolutions. At the end of the unit. 16, the metal is directed outwardly to form tongues 16 which are, in effect, half portions of end walls 16. These units 16 are placed together as shown in Fig. 2 so that the U-shaped convolutions of one unit intermesh with those of the next-adjacent unit and the side walls 16 of the U-shaped convoluticns are provided with apertures 17 which are engaged by rods 18, formed of steel wire or the like, thereby establishing apivotal connection between adjacent units 16 throughout the mat so that it has a flexible construction and is capable of being rolled upon itself to form a cylindrical roll 20, as shown in Fig. 1. The ends of the connecting rods 18 are preferably transverselybent at one end as shown at 18 but the remaining portions thereof are straight so that any desired rod 18 may be withdrawn from the mat 15 when desired to separate a mat section'15 of the desired length, as shown in Fig. 2;where one of the rods '18 has been withdrawn to separate a section 15 from the end of the supply roll. The lower edge of the .metal strip which forms each unit 16 rests edge- ,WlSB on the underlyingsupporting surface and the walls 16 and 16 of the convolutions are directed vertically from the supporting surface. The holes 17 are similarly located in all of the units 16 so that when the pivot rods 18 are inserted, the lower edges of the connected units 16 are capable of occupying one plane or of conforming to the curvature of the underlying surface. The reenforcing material thus formed may be made up in very long lengths which can be shipped and moved about in the form of rolls 20 and then unrolled on the base of the pavement to supply the lengths or sections desired.

The present invention is preferably employed in conjunction with the invention of Chester M. MacChesney described and claimed in his copending application Serial No. 382,924, filed August 2, 1929, according to which means are provided for uniting the adjacent mat sections along their longitudinal edges on the paving base preliminary to filling the spaces of the composite reenforcing mat with the plastic surface paving material. This means for uniting the parallel mat sections on the paving base is illustrated in Figs. 2 to 10 of the accompanying drawings, where a number of side walls 16 of adjacent convolutions of the mat are provided adjacent one edge of the reenforcing mat 15 with aligning apertures 21 adapted to be engaged by pins 22. The pins 22 are of such length that they normally engage the apertures 21 in the side walls 16 of four or five U-shaped convolutions adjacent one edge of the mat, as shown in Fig. 2, and they are prevented from moving inwardly to a greater extent by their engagement with up perforated side walls 16* as shown at 23. When thus positioned, the other ends of the pins 22 terminate in substantial alignment with the projecting tongues 16 of the mat units along that edge of the mat. At the other edge of the mat, the side walls 16 of the convolutions 16 are provided with apertures 21 which are adapted to align with the apertures 21 when two mat sections 15 are placed side by side on the base of the pavement. When thus aligned, the pins 22 are moved in the direction of their length transversely of the mat sections into engagement with the apertures 21*, thus uniting adjacent mat sections to prevent relative vertical or longitudinal movement thereof. The apertures 21. are provided in a lesser number of side walls 16'" than are the apertures 21 in the side walls 16 at the other edge of the mat so that when the pins 22 have been partially withdrawn from an aligning series of apertures 21, they are prevented from complete withdrawal from the apertures 21 by the one goment with the unperforated side walls 16' of certain convolutions of the adjacent mat section, as shown at 24 in Fig. 5. The apertures 21 and 21, and also the apertures 17, are located substantially below the upper edges of the mat units 16 and, preferably, below the center lines of the sheet metal strips which form the mat units so that the mat must be worn away to a considerable depth before the rods pins are exposed.

In the operation of laying the pavement, a base 25 is first formed of concrete or other suit able material adapted to present a hard upper surface, which may be either flat or slightly curved, to receive the metallic reenforcing material and the surface paving material. This base 25 may be provided at its edges with upwardly extending curb 26 having a portion .28 extending upwardly some distance above the upper surface 25 of the pavement base on which the metallic reenforcing material and the surface pavement is to be laid. If the pavement is to be employed in some location other than a street or roadway, the curbs 26 will ordinarily not be employed. The metallic reenforcing material is then applied to the surface 25 from a roll 20 of the flexible reenforcing material which is unrolled on the base 25 lengthwise thereof with one edge thereof abutting against the portion 26 of the curb. When a section 15 of the metallic reenforcing material of the desired length has been unrolled, this section is severed from the source of supply by removing one of the pivot rods 18 and then the roll 20 is unrolled over the base 25 alongside the seetion l5 previously detached to form another section 15 which is again severed from the supply roll 20 by removing one of the pivot rods 13. This operation is continued, as illustrated in Figs. 7 and 8, until the entire base 25 has been covered between the curbs 26 by the metallic mat sections 15 which are aligned with each other so that the tongues 16 of adjacent mat sections engage each other endwise and so that the holes 21 of one mat section align with the holes 21 and the pins 22 carried by the next adjacent mat section. The flexible metallic reenforcing material has the advantage that when one roll thereof has been used, the last portion thereof may be united with the end of another roll by inserting one of the pivot pins 18 and a strip or section of the mat may be continued with a new roll to the desired length of the paving base without any break or joint in the longitudinal section. enforcing material may be unrolled on the paving base at the same time in order that several reenforcing sections or mats may be laid side by side simultaneously. When the sections have thus been laid side by side, the connecting pins 22 are moved in the holes 21 to engage the holes 2]. in the next adjacent section. thereby uniting the adjacent mat sections, as illustrated at the right hand side of Figs. '7 and 8.

Having covered the paving base 25' with connected mat sections 15 in the manner described above, the surface paving material, such as plastic concrete, asphalt, mastic or other material 27 is poured or otherwise applied to the reenforcing matting to fill the meshes or pores 28 thereof to the level of the upper edges of the mat sections 16, as shown. in Figs. 9 and 10. i The pivot rods 18 and the connecting pins 22 are then embedded in the surface paving material 2'7 leaving only the upper edges of the strips which form the mat.

sections 16 exposed to form a continuous network of metallic reenforcingmaterial extending throughout the area of the surface pavement. The units 16 of the reenforcing matting are preferably made of sheet steel of sufficient softness or ductility so that, after the pavement has been used, the effect of the traffic passing thereover will be to spread out or upset the upper edges of the strips forming the sections 15 of the mat, thereby increasing the area of the strips at the surface and correspondingly increasing the resistance to surface wear.

The metal reenforcing mat may be laid on a paving base formed of wood, as shown in Fig. 11, and in that case the metallic mat may be secured in place on the base by means of staples 29 which are driven into the wooden paving arranged to straddle the pivot rods 18, thereby securing the adjacent sections of the reenforcing mat in place and making it unnecessary to employ the connecting pins 22 described above. When employing the present invention with surbase 30 and i If desired, several rolls of reno I unitsmade up of metal strips.

face paving material such as asphalt or mastic, the metallic matting is preferably provided with a preliminary coating of a light asphalt compound which may be applied thereto in the factraific is encountered, it is unnecessary to reenforce the entire area of the pavement and, in that event, the reenforcing mat is preferably provided with finished edges as shown in Fig. 12 so that the reenforcing mat will better withstand theirnpacts encountered thereby along its edges while at the same time presenting a more pleasing'appearance. For this purpose, the spaces between adjacent convolutions 16 in the unit 16 at the end of the mat are filled by sheet metal strips or fillers 31 eachhaving a pair of arms 31 which lie in close contact with the side walls 16 of the adjacent convolutionsand are connected by a transverse corrugated portion 31. Thearms 31 are provided with apertures which are engaged by the pivot rods 18 passing through the outer ends of these convolutions 16 and one of the arms 31 preferably extends inwardly and has a notch 31 in the end thereof which engages the next pivot rod 18 so that the filler 31 is thereby held in place and theseveral fillers serve with the walls 16 of the convolutions to provide a continuous metallic wall along the end of the mat section. In order to give the mat a finished construction along its lateral edges, the pivot rods 18 may have both ends thereof bent transversely as shown at 18 in Fig. 12, and these transverse portions are'located in horizontal planes so that the projecting tongues 16 of the ends of the mat units may be bent thereover as shown at 16 to hold the extremities 18 from turning.

While the form of reenforcing mat illustrated in Figs. 1 to 10, inclusive, distributes the metalstructed according to the present invention and embodying a modified construction and arrangement of the individual units of the mat so that less metal is required in forming the individual In Fig. 13 there is shown a portion of a metal unit 32 adapted to be employed in the formation of a flexible mat similar 'to that previously described. In this form, the sheet metal strip or ribbon which forms the unit is reversely bent to form a plurality of convolutions 32 each having side walls 32* connected by rounded ends 32 of relatively small curvature. The unit 32 is adapted to intermesh with a similar unit and provided with holes 33 adapted to be engaged by the connecting rods which form the pivotal connection between adjacent units. The form of mat unit 16 previously described is superimposed upon the unit 32 and illustrated by dotted lines for purposes of comparison. Itwill be seen that by using sidewalls V-shaped wall 38.

32 which are inclined-to each other in V-shaped fashion, there is a considerable saving in the length of the metal strip which is required to form a mat unit of given length. In Fig. 14, a number, of the mat units 32 are shown in assembled relation and havingv a pivotal connection with each other. In this form, the holes 33 are engaged by pivot rods 34 but since the intermeshing units do not contact with each other to prevent lateral separation or movement along the rods 34, means must be provided for maintaining the proper spaced relation of the units and this is done by bending the rods or wires 34 between the apices of adjacent convolutions of the connected units as shown at 34-, thus providing shoulders 3a in the rod or wire on each side of the apex of each convolution. This bending of the connecting rods or wires may be effected by gripping the wire with "a suitable tool between the apices of adjacent convolutions and then twisting the tool transversely to the length of the wire to form simultaneously a pair of shoulders 34 in the length of wire which separates two adjacent convolutions.

In Fig. 15 there is illustrated still another modification comprising sheet metal units 35 formed of sheet steel strips or ribbons which are bent upon each other to form LllllltS adapted to rest edgewise on the pavement base and to be presented edgewise to the surface tobe reenforced. Each unit 35 comprises a series of substantially V-shaped convolutions 35 which are directed at an angle to the length of the mat, instead of longitudinally of the mat as in Fig. 14. Each convolution 35, comprises a vvall'55 extending longitudinally of the mat and a diagonal wall 35 which connects one end of one wall 35 with the opposite wall of the next adjacent wall 35 With this zigzag formation of the units 35, they are permitted to intermesh with each other with the ends of adjacent walls 35 contacting with each other as shown at 36. The walls 35 and 35 are provided with holes so that these holes in adjacent units will align with each other when the intermeshing relation is established and the adjacent units are then pivotally connected by means of pivot rods or wires 37 which have portions 3'7 thereof bent transversely to the length of the wire to form shoulders 87* adjacent to the apices of the convolutions 35 of adjacent uni-ts, thus preventing end'wise movement of the units along the pivot Wires.

Another form of construction embodying a V- shaped convolution but not requiring the formation of shoulders in the pivot rods or wires, is shown in Fig. 16, where the units 33 of the mat are made up from sheet steel strips or ribbons bent transversely to form what is in effecta series of M-shaped convolutions arranged with alternate convolutions directed oppositely and with ad jacent convolutionshaving a common wall. In this form, the metal stripis bentflso that each convolution 38 comprises a pair of side walls 38 connected at their ends with an intervening convolution are connected to an oppositely directed V-shaped wall 38 of the next adjacent convolution. The ends of the walls 38* and the The side walls 38* of each ends of the V-shaped walls 38 are provided with apertures 39 engaged by pivot rods or pins 40. Inasmuch as the ends of the walls 38 of each convolution interrnesh with two similar convolutions of an adjacent unit, the units are prevented from relative movement transversely of the mat without providing shoulders in the rods or pins 40.

In Fig. 17 there is illustrated another modification which embodies a plurality of pivotally connected units each made up of convolutions of substantially V-shaped formation but without requiring the formation of shoulders in the connecting rods or wires. In this modification, the units 42 of the mat are formed of sheet steel strips or ribbons which are bent to form substantially v-shaped convolutions 42 each having diverging side walls 42* which are connected at their converging ends by U-shaped loops 42. At their other ends, the walls 42 of adjacent convolutions are united with each other by a pair of U-shaped loops 42 which provide an intervening U-shaped loop 42 directed in the opposite di rection and adapted to receive the U-shaped loop 42 of a convolution carried by an adjacent unit. The units 42 intermesh with each other with the loops 42 along one edge of each unit entering the loops 42 along the opposite edge of the adjacent unit and these intermeshing loops 42 and l2 are provided with registering apertures engaged by pivot rods or wires 43 by which adjacent units are pivotally connected so that the entire mat may be rolled up as in the form of the invention first described.

In Fig. 18 of the drawings there is illustrated still another modification which combines the U-shaped loop construction shown in Fig. 2 with the V-shaped construction shown in Fig. 13. In this modification, the separate units 45 are formed, as before, of sheet steel strips or ribbons which are bent so that each unit comprises a series of U-shaped convolutions 45 each having side walls 45 connected by transverse end walls 45. The U-shaped convolutions 45 are spaced apart and the alternate ones are reversely directed so that the ends of the walls 45 of adjacent convolutions are connected by diagonal walls 45 The U-shaped convolutions 45 of adjacent units intermesh with each other and the intermeshing parts are provided with aligning apertures engaged by pivot rods or pins 46.

By means of the method of the present invention and the improved pavement herein described, it has been found possible to construct runways for shops, docks, railway platforms, roadways and the like, where heavy traffic is encountered, so that the surface pavement will withstand for very long periods the heavy impacts which are due to the movement of traffic thereover and the results are much more satisfactory than have been obtained with any other form of pavement heretofore used. The use of the metallic reenforcing mat serves not only to increase the wearing qualities of the pavement as a whole but also to prevent the deterioration of the surface paving material, such as concrete or the like, due to the cracking thereof which normally takes place after it has been hardened and put into use. The cracks which normally develop in concrete pavements tendto increase in width and depth with increase in traffic thereover until they develop depressions of such magnitude that the blows imparted by the passage of wheels thereover quickly break down the'surrounding pavement. It has been found that with the use of the present invention, the cracks in the surface pavement, such as concrete, tend to develop along the lines of the metallic reenforcing strips, and the subsequent wear which takes place due to the movement of traffic over the pavement serves to upset or mash down the upper edges of the metallic strips so that they fill the cracks in the paving material and prevent subsequent enlargement of these cracks.

Although certain examples of the improved paving method have been set forth by way of illustration in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which certain embodiments of the improved paving material and the reenforcement therefor are shown, it will be understood that the method may be practiced in various ways and 100 that the pavement and reenforcement material therefor may take various forms within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A reenfcrcement for pavements comprising 105 a plurality of metal units extending parallel to each other, said units having aligning holes therein, and removable rods engaging said holes and pivotally connecting said units.

2. A reenforcement for pavements comprising 119 a plurality of metal units each having a zigzag formation and intermeshing with an adjacent unit, and removable pins pivotally connecting adjacent units.

3. A pavement comprising a base, a flexible 1 5 reenforcing mat resting on said base and composed of a plurality of metal strips each arranged in zigzag fashion and pivotally connected with the next adjacent strip of the mat, and surface paving material filling the spaces of said mat to 129 the level of the upper edges of said strips which are presented edgewise to the surfaceof the pavement.

4. A pavement comprising a base, a flexible reenforcing mat resting on said base and com- 5 posed of a plurality of metal strips each resting edgewise on said base and pivotally connected with the next adjacent strips of mat leaving intervening spaces between them, and surface paving material filling the spaces of said mat to the level 130 of the upper edges of said strips which are presented edgewise to the surface of the pavement.

ALLEN B. WILSON. 

